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The original was posted on /r/pcmasterrace by /u/ninjao on 2023-11-06 11:46:05.

Firstly, I hope it’s okay to post this here; if not, I am sure the mods will remove it. This is not a shitpost:

As winter has been gradually lowering the temperature in my room up here in the North, I’ve begun to heat my room by running a game in the background on my PC.

It started out as a bit of a joke. I did some calculations and realized it might be more cost-effective and “efficient” for me to heat my room this way instead of using gas.

Since I work from home (self-employed), having a game running in the background is not uncommon. Especially something like CS2, which is easy to set up to run in the background (progressing the city) and not just any game that generates high CPU/GPU temperatures solely for the purpose of generating heat.

The “game progression while not focused on the game” metric was an important factor for me because I didn’t want to just “waste” energy on heating the room. I wanted to make progress in my game while simultaneously heating my room.

My room is only about 6m2, so it isn’t hard to heat up with my monitor (AORUS FV43U) and my PC (5950x + RTX3070).

Heating with gas has become very expensive, and we have solar roof panels that can offset some of our energy consumption. While it’s an older system and not very efficient, we currently have a good electricity contract, and my initial, very rough calculations suggest it’s more efficient to heat the room this way (given my average daily use/power consumption).

It quickly became apparent that the best game for me to enjoy while also meeting this requirement was CS2. I can quickly alt-tab and make adjustments or fulfill the city’s planning requirements and inhabitants’ wishes. The game can naturally progress in the background. I love building very “stable” cities that can go for long periods without needing constant management. So, this has become a fun way to let my cities evolve at a slower pace.

I’m wondering if any of you have other ideas or suggestions for good “PC-powered room heater” games?